Shimotsuke Province
The province of Shimotsuke ( Japanese 下野 国 , Shimotsuke no kuni ) or Yashū for short ( 野 ) was one of the historical provinces of Japan in the Tōsandō region until the 9th century , today its area is Tochigi Prefecture .
The province emerged from the division of the province of Keno / Kenu into the provinces of Shimo-tsu-Keno / Kenu ( 下 毛 野 国 , dt. "Province of Unter-Keno") and Kami-tsu-Keno / Kenu ( 上 毛 野 国 , dt Ober-Keno "). In 713, an imperial edict shortened the spelling of the provinces to two Kanji , here the first and third characters. However, the pronunciation Shimotsuke is borrowed from the first and second characters.
The old capital ( kokufu ) was near the modern city of Tochigi , but in the feudal period the center of the province was at Utsunomiya . Various parts of Shimotsuke were held by a large number of small daimyo during the Sengoku period .
Tokugawa Ieyasu's tomb and shrine are in Nikko .
Coordinates: 36 ° 40 ′ N , 139 ° 47 ′ E